Remembering Karachi Grammar School as it completes 175 years

What fun would it be if an open house is organised at the Karachi Grammar School (KGS) this year, and former students are invited to it, and the school’s 175th anniversary is celebrated, just like the centennial celebrations in 1947. It would also be appropriate to get together and request that a commemorative stamp or coin be issued, or both.

In 1847 Rev H Brereton, the first chaplain of Karachi, started the Anglo-Indian School in his home — in his kitchen actually. In his honour the school gives out the Brereton Award to students with exceptional grades.

In 1854, due to reports on the reverend’s performance, Sir HB Frere reopened the school in the Mess House of Her Majesty’s 64th Regiment at No. 24 Depot Lines, and it was renamed the Kurrachee European and Indo-European School.

In 1871 the school’s motto, ‘Indocti Discant’, or ‘Let the unlearned learn’, a quotation from Horace, was recorded. In 1875 Rev GB Streeton expanded the school and made it into a purpose-built facility now known as the Saddar Campus.

Finally, in 1879, the name Karachi Grammar School was coined. Many of the students will remember the morning assembly held in a hall that was actually built in 1912.

In 1929 the house system of ‘A’, ‘B’ and ‘C’ was introduced, and shortly converted to ‘Frere’, with the motto ‘Bravely, Faithfully, Happily’, ‘Streeton’, with the motto ‘Excelsior’, and ‘Napier’, after Sindh’s first governor, General Sir Charles James Napier, with the motto ‘In Unity Lies Strength’.

In 1947 the centenary of KGS was celebrated, and in 1949 the War Memorial Block was opened in which many of us have studied.

In 1956 the school crest was changed, and ‘Lucerna Meis Pedibus’ was mentioned on it, with its literal meaning ‘A lantern to my feet’, or ‘Enlighten my pathway’ as coined by yours truly. The school’s motto and foundation year are also mentioned on the new logo.

In 1962 the Kindergarten Section was opened in the Holy Trinity Cathedral Compound, and it was moved to Clifton in 1991, along with the Junior Section from the Saddar Campus, in a purpose-built modern facility, with a pool and everything.

In 1999 the College Section was opened in Clifton, and another house was added in memory of JL Papworth, OBE, music teacher, vice-principal, bursar and principal. The house is called Papworth House, with the motto ‘Virtue Conquers All’.

The school is managed by a board of governors, and the principal of KGS is its secretary. The three sections — kindergarten and junior, middle, and college — are managed by the heads of these sections.

KGS is rich with notable alumni such as Arif Alvi; Qazi Faez Isa; Hammad Nassar; Sadeq Sayeed; Arif Naqvi; Rayid Ghani; Hareem Farooq; Asif Ali Zardari; Sabeen Mahmud; Nadeem F Paracha; Reza Ali Mirza; Nadia Zaffar; Dr Asim Hussain, HI; Faizan S Syed; Haroon Ur Rashid; Sahibzada Muhammad Usman Khan Abbasi; Nawabzada Muhammad Aslam Khanji; Moinuddun Khanji Babi; Masood Ahmed; Chisty Mujahid; Rabiya Javeri Agha; Dr Atta Ur Rehman; Benazir Bhutto; Chaudhry Muhammad Ali; Princess Sarvath al Hussain; Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi; Thomas W Simons, Jr; Arthur Edward Cumming; Navin Rizvi; Hameed Haroon; Abdullah Hussain Haroon; Jamil Dehlave; Kamila Shamsie; Kumail Nanjiani; Maliha Lodhi; Murtaza Bhutto; Ameena Saiyid; Nafisa Shah; Nazia Hassan; Pervez Hoodbhoy; Tapu Javeri; Sabiha Sumar; Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy; Sherry Rehman; Waheed Murad; Mariam Masood; Fatima Ali; Yasin Anwer; Alizeh Ayaz; Sima Kamil; Wajahat Saeed Khan; Ayesha Malik; Mahnaz Malik; Hoori Noorani; Maqbool Rahimtoola; Shahryar Rashed; Ali Jehangir Siddiqui and Bilawal Bhutto.

— The writer was class coordinator at KGS (class of 70/72, O/A levels). He can be reached at shishmahal@gmail.com or +92-333-227-0796